Backfire
by parcak
Summary: Konoha strikes a deal with Akatsuki - they take Sakura and they leave the jinchūriki and Konoha unharmed by their plots. But what happens when the said pinkette's attitude towards the organisation (namely the elder Uchiha) backfires on her? Rated M for language, violence and smut.
1. Chapter 1

Sakura sensed their presence even before she had set foot in the building, in which her apartment was situated. Instead of immediately running to Tsunade, which would have no doubt alerted the three S-class criminals in her apartment that she knew of their current position, she continued in without even a slight faltering in her steps, as if in a daze. She made her way to the stairs and slowly walked up, thinking of a plan of action. Currently, as far as she could trust that this was not some sort of genjutsu, she could sense the chakra of Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki and an unfamiliar chakra, albeit an Akatsuki yet again, she was sure. She kept her breathing even and her steps – confident.

She hesitated a bit before putting the key in the keyhole of her apartment. She had pinpointed Kisame's and the unknown Akatsuki's locations to be on her sofa, whilst the older Uchiha was brewing tea in her kitchen. They all stiffened at her hesitation and she realized she had given herself away. She still continued to push in the key and opened the door carefully, testing the air for any potential objects flying in her direction.

"Haruno Sakura." Itachi was first to speak, addressing her in a calm voice. She should have run to Tsunade. But it was her apartment they had chosen – did they have some sort of business with her? She needed to know for sure, before reporting to her shishou. For all it's worth, they might just be clones – she wouldn't put it past Akatsuki to make clones even she could not detect.

"Uchiha." Sakura spat at him. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" She looked around and found that the unfamiliar chakra belonged to a silver haired man, surely enough – wearing an Akatsuki cloak. Then a vein popped angrily on her forehead, as she saw what said criminal was playing with. "Put down my underwear or I will bash your balls up to your chin, Akatsuki." She threatened, venom dripping from her every word, unaware of her temper slip.

The Akatsuki only smirked dirtily before throwing the lace panties on the floor behind the couch, putting up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

Itachi murmured a quiet "Hidan." as if to tell him to behave.

Hidan. She had seen his name in the official reports they had on Akatsuki, but he was one of the few of which they did not have any amount of proper information on – not even a description or picture.

"Haruno-san," Itachi began, ripping her from her thoughts "we are here to offer you a deal on behalf of our Leader, Pein-sama." He stopped and looked at her, waiting for some sort of indication she would listen.

"I have no interest in striking any deals with the enemy." She said, glaring at him coldly. She heard a snicker from the couch and glanced at its location, seeing Kisame smirking at Hidan, murmuring a low "Feisty little kunoichi."

She looked back at the Uchiha just as he also smirked, albeit almost unnoticeably. Had she not been in a team with his brother she probably wouldn't have seen it and it probably wouldn't have annoyed her as much as it did. "Not even if it would save your Jinchūriki friend?" he asked smugly.

Sakura tensed and her glare turned twice as cold. The ass dared threaten Naruto in front of her?

"Now, now, before you do something rash," he said as he poured himself a cup of her tea, - the vanilla one, she noticed as she took a deep breath- "At least hear me out. I dare say I find our proposition to be quite in your interest, as well as our own."

"Spit it out, then, I haven't all day."

"We will cease all attempts on capturing or harming the Uzumaki boy, in return of your medical attention and assistance. Of course, this will be highly inconvenient in Konoha, so we must insist you come with us to our Akatsuki base, where we will fully elaborate on our intentions and what we need you for." He finished with a sip of his- _her_ tea. He was using her favorite cup. She narrowed her eyes.

"And if I refuse?" she asked, a cold chill going down her spine.

"Then we'll just have to kidnap you and threaten your village as to persuade you, which would be considerably less pleasant, in my opinion." He smiled, this time more obviously, his tone betraying the dangerous glint to his smile. She hated how his features resembled those of Sasuke's so much – how they both had the absolute same amount of sadistic cockiness oozing from them.

"I could easily sound the alarm right now and this place could be swarming with ANBU in a blink of an eye." She bluffed, albeit quite successfully.

"We don't mind if you inform your Hokage of this arrangement" spoke the shark-like Akatsuki, grabbing her attention "You have three days to decide, in which time you can tell your officials, if you wish. It would certainly make things easier on us, since we wouldn't need to always be on the lookout for Konoha's retrieval teams and on yourself, since you wouldn't have to witness us slaughtering your fellow workmates, don't you think?" he flashed her a grin, showing off his sharp teeth, and she felt sick from the way he addressed murder so happily.

Then, as sudden as their appearance, they poofed away and Sakura could barely register what had just happened. She walked hesitantly to the kitchen and saw that Itachi had drank the tea and left the cup in the sink, as if to mockingly assure her this had actually occurred and she was not being delusional.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto could tell something was up when he saw Sakura dashing through _her window _in direction of the Hokage's tower not even half an hour after her shift at the hospital had finished. Her expression was a cold, blank mask and that never meant good – Sakura was an emotional creature, she was an open book. As dim as Naruto was, one thing he could always count on was being able to read Sakura's emotions clearly – a skill that had saved his skull from being bashed in way too many times. Yet, here she was, shoulders tense and fists clenched, jumping from roof to roof in higher speed than usual with an expression _he_ would usually wear.

He.

Sasuke.

The resemblance hit Naruto hard and before he could even think it through he went after Sakura, tailing her delicately to the tower, being careful as to not be noticed by her. His expression turned sour and his posture stiffened, matching Sakura's. Only he didn't know why and she did.

...

Sakura raced to her shishou's office in less than a minute, a grim expression on her face. When she had left her apartment she was not sure what emotions she should feel, but upon seeing Shizune's smiling face she decided grim was best – an easy indicator that something was wrong. The Hokage's assistant looked up cheerfully, but never even got to ask her usual "How are you, Sakura-chan?", as said girl's glare stopped her in her tracks.

"I have urgent business with the Hokage." The pinkette said, her tone controlled, yet uncertain. Shizune immidietly got up from her 'work place' (more like 'spy-on-Tsunade-so-she-doesn't-get-_too_-drunk' strategic position) and knocked on the door to Tsunade's office. Sakura watched as Shizune peeked inside, exchanged a few words with her shishou and then moved away, motioning for Sakura to let herself in.

Sakura walked in hesitantly, still formulating what she wanted to say. It all seemed so surreal. Upon entering she saw her sensei, Kakashi, swiftly leaving through the window, waving her goodbye. She turned her gaze towards the busty woman in front of her, taking note of the two sake cups on her desk and the slight blush on her cheeks. '_Good_', Sakura thought '_maybe if she's drunk, she'll be less furious after I'm finished. Maybe I won't be beaten to a pulp for confronting three Akatsuki on my own_.' Inner Sakura snorted a sarcastic '_you wish'_.

"Sakura, dear, what seems to be the problem?" Tsunade asked sweetly, obviously pleased with something – Sakura decided she must have made Kakashi buy her her sake again, seeing as he was just here.

Sakura began her 'report'.

...

"So," Tsunade began after she had silently glared at Sakura for about two minutes after she stopped talking, "you're telling me that, not only did you not immidietly report to me that there were freaking _Akatsuki_ in your apartment, but you also engaged in friendly chit-chat with them?"

"Um, no! I –"

"I'm not finished!" her shishou's voice roared over her own, making Sakura unconsciously slump her shoulders, as if to sink into herself and hide from her mentor's angry gaze. "Sakura, you could have been killed! It could have been an ambush! You could have been even kidnapped, seeing as they want you! You put yourself in unnecessary danger and for what? To sate your curiosity? I thought you were smarter than that! Heck, sometimes you surpass _me_ in reasonable thinking!" Tsunade ran a trembling hand through her hair. Sakura knew that that wasn't because she was concerned- although she_ was_- but because she was keeping herself from hitting something.

"They want you to be their healer, of sorts?" Tsunade asked after a long pause, asking for confirmation of what she had heard.

"Correct." Sakura nodded.

"And in exchange Konoha and Naruto are left out of their plans and are, therefore, safe from any Akatsuki attacks?"

"As far as I can trust Itachi Uchiha's words- yes."

"And you will be taken to their base? Which, might I say, neither do we know where it is, nor have they told us?"

Sakura hesitated, taking that bit of neglected information in. "Y-yes." She finally nodded.

"And you're ready to do this?"

Sakura looked up and saw the eyes of a mother, rather than a Hokage. Tsunade was more than a mentor to Sakura – a mother in most senses. But she could not ignore the advantages to such a deal, although she had to talk it over with the Elders, before it was sealed. The pinkette gulped and thought about it for a moment. Was she ready? Not at all. Did she have a choice? Not at all. This was Naruto. Her family. She would not pass up an opportunity to save him from Akatsuki's constant nagging.

"I am." She said, just as Naruto barged through the door, screaming an angry "OF COURSE SHE IS NOT!"

Sakura gaped at him and Tsunade screamed at the ANBU outside of her office to restrain Naruto and hold him outside until she calls for him. He was quickly dragged out and Sakura wondered if he had heard everything. He must have. And yet he wanted to stop her from doing something slightly unpleasant- _'highly dangerous and extremely foolish'_ corrected Inner Sakura- to save his life?

With newfound resolve Sakura looked at her shishou and uttered a confident "I am." and Tsunade nodded sadly, but proudly, as she told the ANBU they could bring 'the brat' in.

...

After an hour of Tsunade and Sakura shouting at Naruto and giving him death threats he finally broke and dejectedly walked out, agreeing to the whole thing. Sakura knew he didn't approve one bit, but once Tsunade told him this was not solely about him and it was mostly about Konoha (though not really) he quickly backed off and finally gave up. Now she was walking home, as it was already dark and she was tired, mulling over what the Elders might say. Tsunade had told her she would contact them first thing in the morning, as she had to finish some paperwork and that Sakura can take the next two days off and rest. She liked that idea.

...

She stepped into her apartment cautiously, even though she hadn't sensed nothing. She didn't bother turning on the lights – she walked straight through her living room to her bedroom, stripped quickly out of her clothes and into a sleeping T-shirt and lazily went to bed, wrapping herself in her soft, warm sheets.

**A/N: _I will try my best to update with a chapter every week. Reviews and critiques are welcome, as I am far from an actual writer. I hope you've enjoyed these chapters and I hope to please with those to come! :)_**


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura woke up to a loud bang in her kitchen, followed by a string of curses. She stretched her limbs as she turned around, her brain lazily telling her to ignore the sound and fall back to sleep. The sun was shining through her window, illuminating a part of her short pink hair and warming her left cheek. Under the blankets she felt a warm feeling spreading out, as her legs and arms slowly woke up and she sighed contently – who knows since when she hadn't slept this good, or even _slept in_.

A part of her mind asked her suspiciously _why_ was it that she was sleeping in? It wasn't the weekend, she was sure – it had just ended.

Suddenly she bolted up into a sitting position, remembering the events from the day before. Goosebumps broke out on the skin of her hands, a light shiver accompanying the sudden absence of warmth. She stealthily got up, quietly going to her door and peeking out from it – although she could still sense nobody she was _sure _she had heard that bang and cursing voice, though she couldn't pinpoint to whom it belonged. Her blood ran cold when she saw the silver haired Akatsuki and the elder Uchiha in her kitchen, moving around and cleaning a broken plate up. She would have laughed if she wasn't so shocked at the domestic scene. Itachi was, as always, with his hair tied at the neck, but he was lacking his cloak. Wearing a pair of black pants and a black shirt, he was yet again drinking _her_ tea, whilst holding a wagashi peach in his other hand. Sakura faintly registered that it was her wagashi set they were eating, as she caught herself ogling at the way the Uchiha's calm demeanor and casual stance at the counter made him give an air of complete and utter sexiness.

She blushed at that and slapped Inner Sakura for planting compromising thoughts in her head. She looked at the other Akatsuki – Hidan, she remembered – and saw him picking up a broken plate. The plate, Sakura deducted, had once held a sandwich, which now lay a bit splattered on the floor, pieces of it falling out.

"If you're done _spying_ on us, you may _join_ us." a velvet voice purred behind her and before she could stop herself, Sakura let out a horrified shriek, quickly turning around as she placed a clenched fist over her heart. To her displeasure, she was greeted by a very smug-looking Itachi, popping the wagashi peach in his mouth and walking past her to the kitchen.

Her mouth hung open. Since when was the murderous S-class criminal _Itachi Uchiha_ a playful sort of man? Or even, a _teasing_ one? Certainly he had never showed it when he was trying to kill her team mates. '_Then again_,' Inner Sakura spoke '_seldom are you up against a half-naked, half-awake woman in a fight, whilst stealing her sweets and tea, to be in the mood to be teasing_.'

She picked up a pair of short shorts and put them on, moving into the living room. She watched the two Akatsuki there, Itachi finishing her wagashi set and Hidan throwing away the plate pieces, as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"You know," she began angrily, "usually, to be in my apartment and eat my food, you should have first been _invited_."

"Indeed, that is correct, Haruno-san. But," Itachi popped another sweet in his mouth, "as it seems, we can't afford to let you slip away, so constant surveillance is in order." He smiled mockingly and passed her a cup of tea. She took it and suspiciously examined its content with her chakra, checking for poison. Finding none, she took a sip, thinking of a more measured response, as throwing a punch probably wouldn't be that wise.

"Are you _mocking_ me, Uchiha?" she asked sharply. A slight snicker distracted her, as she glanced sideways to see the other Akatsuki staring at them, an amused expression on his face.

A laugh returned her attention to the elder Uchiha. It caught her off guard – such a warm and genuine laugh coming from such a cold and abstruse person was not something she had ever expected to hear, especially coming from _Itachi fucking Uchiha_.

"I would never dare mock the Godaime's apprentice, Haruno-san," he started, as he leaned over a bit, his gaze keeping hers' on point, "but I certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to tease such a responsive woman."

'_Did Itachi Uchiha just_-'

No.

'_But I'm pretty sure he just f_-'

He did **not**.

_'__-lirted with us and then smir_-'

**Stop it**.

'-_ked suggestively_.'

Sakura turned a million shades of red as acceptance dawned upon her and she took in the fact that this was probably the closest she's get to being flirted with, _by Itachi Uchiha himself_. She turned on her heel and wordlessly ran into her room, closing the door shut and locking it (although she knew that that wouldn't help at all, if the two Akatsuki decided to come in). As much as such a girly action did not suit an 18 year old kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf, she kind of didn't care at the moment, as she quickly locked herself in the bathroom, deciding a cold shower would wake her senses and somehow she'd come to the conclusion that Itachi Uchiha did not, in fact, flirt with her and she was simply imagining things, as she had just woken up.

'_As if_.' A voice rang in her head, amused.

…

Itachi was slightly surprised when the fiery little kunoichi,- he had picked up the nickname from Kisame, instead of losing her temper, blushed madly and stomped back into her room, with not even a word of notice. Hidan, unlike himself, had kept quiet and observed the whole fiasco, obviously entertained by Itachi's sudden humanness. The elder Uchiha wasn't surprised – he rarely was social enough to show any emotions outside of strict professional interest. _But_, he thought calmly, _it was rare to come so close to a piece of his past. When it was still, more or less, happy and content_. Itachi didn't remember much of Sakura, but what he did was the warm afternoons when she and the Kyuubi boy would come visit his brother and they'd play and pull pranks on various Uchihas. Her bubble pink hair made the memories seem all that more cheerful and innocent – he doubted they really were as happy as he remembered. The brain had a way of distorting the past in one's head.

Itachi finished the sweets he had taken out of the girl's fridge, alongside the tea. He knew it was her cup he was using – the little printed photo of his brother's team when they were still genin was staring up at him, a bit worn out and pale. He had purposely done it both days – if he acted a bit more teasingly, surely the girl would be more likely to not have a heart attack every time she knew them to be close. It would make her more accustomed to them, in a sense.

"Aren't you just all silent, suddenly? You're acting as if you're actually a human, seriously. I'm shocked." He heard Hidan bark out, whilst grinning devilishly. He left the little note they had been meant to leave for the kunoichi – _before they had distracted themselves with the wonders of a girl's fridge _– and motioned for Hidan to follow suit, as he body flickered in their hideout near the Leaf. He could still taste the wagashi peach. He smiled to himself.

…

Sakura stepped out of her bathroom in her green bathrobe and glared at the door to the living room. She already knew the Akatsuki could mask their chakra perfectly – who knew if they were still here?

She opened her bedroom door and looked around – empty. What she did notice, though, was a little folded piece of paper on her coffee table. She walked over it, whilst securing her hair in a towel. As she picked it up, she noticed the elegant writing in it and briefly wondered if Itachi had wrote it – he seemed neat enough to be a master in typography, as well as murdering ruthlessly. She read it with a frown.

_'__In two days time we shall return and enquire about your decision. In the mean time you should pack only your essentials – anything you can't go without for more than a day and anything you find you can't buy elsewhere. We shall make sure we escort you to buy clothes, bath supplies and such when you have settled in the base. Do not bring more weapons than usual – a kunai and another weapon of your choice will suffice. _

_Have a nice day, Cherry Blossom. _

_-Itachi Uchiha, Akatsuki. '_

Sakura would have marveled at the neat handwriting and would have been deep in thought about what exactly she was throwing herself in, if she hadn't been fuming with embarrassment at the mocking "cherry blossom" remark. Not only that, but he had added "Akatsuki" after his name. You don't say!

She threw the note angrily on the floor and walked back to her room to dress herself. She noticed it was 11 am and sighed contently – she had not slept in_ that _much, at least. She put on a white skirt, which fell celestially down to her knees and completed her look with a red tank top and red slippers. She let her hair free from the towel and it gently fell to her shoulders, a mess of damp pink locks. She tamed her hair a bit with her hands and pleased with her appearance she went to her door, heading for Yamanaka Ino's shop.

…

Sakura was drunk. Really drunk. Ino was even more so. As they stumbled out of the shop, barely remembering to close and lock it, Sakura wondered how the hell Ino had convinced her to have a drinking contest, while watching her favourite show on the TV inside. _'Every time a hot guy mentions his mom we drink!' _Sakura had thought it would be a dull game, but was quickly making her mind up as they had taken 12 shots in the first 20 minutes. _'And no tricky chakra stuff! I want you to fight me fair and square, forhead girl!' _Sakura should have used her tricky chakra stuff, she deducted with a giggle. She had actually came to tell Ino of her current situation, but her drunk brain quickly regarded the topic as a total bore and instead asked Ino what time it was.

It took Ino a solid 5 minutes of staring at her watch to answer. "3 pm?" she answered unsurely. It was still light outside, so Sakura decided Ino must be right. She grinned at the blonde and the blonde grinned back. Neither knew why but they pretended they did. Sakura turned on her heel and looked around, then turned back again and seriously stared at Ino before asking her with a deep voice:

"Yamanaka Ino, didn't you have a meeting with Tsunade at 4 pm?"

Ino paled and sobered up a bit, as she looked back to her watch, confirming to herself that it was, indeed, 3 pm and quickly bid Sakura farewell and she sloppily ran to her house. Sakura snickered as she marveled at herself – the meeting was tomorrow, not today! She laughed as she took in Ino's face of utter horror and slowly began walking back to her apartment. Truth is she wanted to send Ino home to sober up, so when they met tonight with Naruto and the others she would be in condition to listen to her and Sakura would be in condition to talk. Otherwise they would have drank the day away.

Sakura was already expelling the alcohol from her organism when she arrived at her building. She climbed the stairs up (albeit almost fell quite a few times) and finally entered her apartment, a dissatisfied look on her face. She had done _nothing_ today, but get drunk. So drunk, that she couldn't even muster up the chakra to properly make her metabolism start expelling the alcohol at a steady pace. She laid herself on her sofa, her legs easily giving out as they felt numb and light as a feather. The world was slightly spinning, as if in a daze. She went to turn to face the sofa fully, when a warm feeling spread beneath her legs and she felt something softer than the sofa beneath them. She lazily looked over and for a moment her breath stopped. Sasuke was sitting there, her legs over him, and a questionable look on his face. She lifted herself lightly and noticed that although this person resembled Sasuke greatly he didn't have the usual chicken butt hairdo. This person had long black hair and his face was a bit sharper – more masculine, in a sense. She extended her arm and touched the person's chin, unaware of what she was doing. It had a sharper angle than her former teammate's and she breathed a sigh of disappointment as she stared in his onyx eyes – this person was definitely not Sasuke. This person had a warmth in his eyes – a curious and amused glint. She wondered why. She still couldn't a put a name to the face, though – it seemed so familiar. Not in the sense that this person resembled Sasuke, but in the sense that she had seen this particular person before. She lifted her other arm and stretched the person's lips into a silly smile and laughed to herself.

Then a connection popped in her head.

"…'tachi Uchiha?" she slurred, eyes growing wide.


	4. Chapter 4

A warm breeze brushed at Sakura's neck. She decided to focus on that. If there was a breeze here, then surely the window next to the kitchen was open. She decided to play in her head the events of the day, as to remember when exactly she had opened it.

_'__Maybe Itachi opened it when __**he fucking broke into your apartment**__, shortly before you fucking __**laid **__on top of him.' _A sarcastic Inner Sakura supplied, as she brought Sakura back to reality. Sakura blinked and stared at Itachi and Itachi just stared back, obviously waiting for a more conscious reaction. Sakura dropped her hands from his face and her head lolled to the side, a curious and confused expression on her face.

"I assure you I am not a hallucination, nor a dream, _Sakura_." He decided to add when he saw her pinching her arm, staring skeptically at him. He slightly prolonged her name as if to provoke her and smiled slightly when her irises dilated and her eyes grew wide. He liked her innocence – her reactions were so cute he could hardly keep up the "big bad S-class criminal" façade. Especially now when he doubted she'd remember this after the nap she was so desperately trying to suppress.

"Then…" she started, slowly chewing her words carefully before uttering them -"what're ya doing here?"

He put a finger on his lower lip and looked away – the truth or a well devised lie? He wasn't here because of any particular reason. In fact, the only reason he wanted to come was to see what blend of tea she used as he really liked it and then planned on leaving, not a trace of his presence left behind. But then he had sensed the girl coming back and more importantly – he sensed the way she wobbled uncertainly, the way her chakra was all over the place, as if she couldn't really make it go her way and, an amused glint in his eyes, he had decided to stay and watch the show.

A devilish grin crossed his features for a moment and Sakura narrowed her eyes, still waiting for an answer. He turned back to her and gently put his hand over her knee, leaning over.

"Why, of course, I'm here to see _you_, Sakura." He knew it was cruel to tease the girl so, but he couldn't stop it. Years of coldness and blandness and suddenly he got to speak to such a charming little creature. The pink haired kunoichi's breath hitched (rightfully so) and she seemed to turn to stone for a few minutes, until, finally, a deep red color flooded her cheeks and her lips parted in a shocked sigh. The place where her former teammate's older brother had rested his hand was now burning red hot under his touch and Sakura could barely keep her thoughts at bay.

He was definitely flirting with her, she concluded. Inner Sakura was in a puddle of self-satisfaction. Sakura was in a state of utter shock. He was attractive, no doubt. But she didn't go for the body, she went for the intellect and while the only conversations she held with the Uchiha had revolved around her "job" at the Akatsuki base and his teasing wit, she couldn't deny she liked the way only his voice and construct of sentences could make any woman fall to her knees in a puddle of her own drool.

Except Sakura, of course. _Hopefully_.

Itachi was enjoying all the expressions Sakura's drunk self failed to hide. One of which, Itachi was surprised to see, was arousal. Immidietly followed by shock, confusion, anger and finally – a grin.

"Of course I can do it!" Sakura silently said to herself and looked straight into Itachi's eyes. She was still grinning, albeit a determined glint in her eyes. "You will not seduce me with your sexy looks and deep voice, Uchiha Itachi! I'm immune to your devil Uchiha genes and attractive trickery! Ha! Now go back from where you came and seduce other women, for this one is a challenge you cannot overcome!"

And with that Sakura took a fetal position, drawing her legs away from Itachi, and fell asleep on the sofa, a satisfied grin on her face.

Itachi just stared, dumbfounded, as the girl quickly fell asleep and then stared some more, caught completely off guard. Ignoring the drunk "devil Uchiha genes" remark he mulled over the "challenge" part.

And then he smiled knowingly, got up and carefully threw a blanket over the girl before he left, a promise forming in his mind.

Itachi Uchiha liked challenges.

***

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIING bzz RIIIIIIIIIIING bzz RIIIIIIIIIING_

Sakura buried her face further into the sofa as she took out her phone from her pocket and deactivated the alarm from the middle button. She looked at the hour – 7 pm. She had another hour or so to go to the pub and meet up with the gang.

A massive headache forming, she stood up and slid the blanket around her form, keeping the cold away. She slowly walked to the bathroom and washed her face and teeth, noting that the alcoholic taste was still present in her mouth. She then put a pair of form-fitting jeans and a black T-shirt with a red rose over the heart. She combed her hair, put on a bit of mascara and spent the remaining half hour trying to slowly ease her headache to a slight drumming at the back of her skull. When she was no longer really bothered by it she jumped to her feet and put on her boots as she headed out, a constant grim feeling going through her brain, as if she had forgotten something really important.

It dawned upon Sakura what that grim feeling was when she was listening to Ino whine to everybody (Shikamaru, in particular) about how Sakura had tricked her. It all came at once – the way she stumbled home, fell on top of the Uchiha, blabbed some utterly embarrassing nonsense and then fell asleep blissfully. He's even put a blanked on top of her!

As Ino finished her story on how Tsunade had almost beaten her to death, Sakura quickly took the opportunity to say what she had called them all out tonight – a lovely mix of Team 7, Team 8, Team Gai and Team 10. As she explained the details of her "mission" (her and Tsunade had decided to twist it a bit, so that it sounded less like a bribe and more like a job) and received a hole in her head from all of Naruto's glaring, she finally finished her report, so to say, and seeing all the horrified faces staring right at her she quickly ordered a round of shots, as to loosen up the tension.

2 hours later

Sakura stared, a smile on her lips, as Ino and Naruto sang along to the song in pub, although they were probably hearing it for the first time. Shikamaru, Shino, Kiba and Chouji were long gone, but Neji had stayed to keep an eye on Hinata (who was a very bold drunk). Lee was passed out on the seat next to Sakura and Tenten was cheering on Ino and stuffing napkins in her skirt as if Ino was some sort of stripper and the napkins were actual money. She was closely followed by Hinata, who was throwing those same napkins at Naruto and screaming at him to take off his shirt.

Sakura snorted and with a quick nod from Neji proceeded to exit the pub, going after some fresh air. As she entered the back alley, in which the entrance to the pub was, she began to think of her behavior before the Akatsuki.

"Oh, _fuck_, what am I going to do? Does one even apologize about that? Does one apologize about that _to an Akatsuki member_?" she let her hand go through her hair and a tired sigh escaped her lips as she leaned over the wall. The day after tomorrow was the day. She felt a shiver up her spine and, a second too late, went forward with a punch.

The Uchiha swiftly evaded it and locked his gaze with her. His hair was damp and his casual grey tee and black pants stood out in their blandness. Sakura quickly took a few steps back, determined on keeping her composure this time. She was beginning to think he just _might_ be stalking her.

"Can I help you?" she asked suspiciously, slowly relaxing her posture. The Uchiha only smirked slightly and took a step towards her, his eyes challenging her.

_Step back and you lose. Coward._

Sakura stayed put as Itachi made his way to her, until he hovered over her intimidatingly and she had to lift her head a bit to not break eye contact. His smirk never faltered, but his gaze was filled with silent triumph – as if she had lost by staying rather than if she had ran away.

"Actually, Haruno-san, you can." He finally said, his voice low and his tongue slowly wrapping around every word.

'_Remember how you said we wouldn't fall for that one_?' Inner Sakura teased.

**I was drunk, you intolerable moron!**

"W-well, then, I doubt_ I_ personally can, s-so just ask somebody else!" she stuttered, equally from anger and astonishment at her own weakness.

"Oh, but my request is _entirely_ about yourself, Haruno-san." He said, slightly cocking his head, as if to kiss her. She sank back, but refused to take a_ step_ back. _Damn pride!_

"I'd like to ask of you to be able to leave with us tomorrow. It seems we're suddenly on a tight leash and as much as it'd be far more our style to simply take you away, we'd rather keep up our polite font… for now." Sakura was dazed. The tone of his voice didn't match what he was saying at all. If he'd been speaking in another language, Sakura would have bet all her money that he was uttering words of complete and utter sexual context, yet here he was telling her how he's rather not kidnap her to a base full of criminals. She blinked at him, confused and then uttered a quiet confirmation, in order to get the Uchiha to get away from her. He grinned slightly and, before she could move away, brushed his lips over her cheek before shadow walking back to his base.

Sakura blinked.

_Wait, I agreed to __**what**__?_

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**_A/N: Feedback and reviews are always welcome. Hope you enjoyed! _**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Excuse the late upload. My Internet was down for a few days, but hopefully it won't do that again. I hope you enjoy ~**

A lone red light was flickering. There was a foul smell in the air, but it was masked with the breath of alcohol. Pink locks lay ruffled in her hair, green eyes flickered hauntingly. The music was loud and it vibrated deep into her system, making her concentrate on the way it shaked her existence. The song was slow and balladic, yet it made you want to dance. To move. To feel your muscles stretch.

Her glare bore through her surroundings at the pub and she stared at her memory of those bright red eyes, intent on killing. She tilted her head and saw through their blood red veil – saw the stories she had heard, the people he had killed.

Sakura closed her eyes, willing for those blurry images to disappear. Although Sakura was an extremely cheerful drunk the first few hours, after some time her pose changed to that of a wild cat, her thoughts went dark and her eyes took a dangerous glint. Desire. For bloodshed, for feelings? She did not know. She didn't like drinking, because it brought out the broken in her – your best friends leaving you for power did that to you. You, too powerless, to follow them – even more so.

Her gaze slid to her company – half were asleep, half were too drunk to really be considered conscious. She knew they drank for her sake – they wanted her to not see the worried expressions on their faces, the doubt, the fear.

This drunk version of her was more so drunk on dread, rather than the vodka, so she swiftly teleported back to her apartment, only meeting Neji's disapproving look for a second.

She sat on her sofa, hugged by the darkness of her room. She ran her fingers over her arms in an attempt to collect herself.

For the first time she assessed the situation, properly – she was going to live in Kami knows where with Kami knows how much criminals for Kami knows how long. She was going to be used for her worth and then most probably – thrown away. And yet here she was playing affections with the one of them who she should hate most – the one who made Sasuke the power-driven monster he is.

She gritted her teeth painfully, her nails bore in her skin, breaching it. She did not cry. Sakura did not cry. Tears did not help. Sakura fought. And Sakura would fight.

She would fight herself and she would approach this calmly. She would fight them and she would not be broken. Her worth will be too much for them to overuse.

Green orbs flashed dangerously, as a grin formed. Sakura quickly got up and rammed a few stuff in her packing bag – underwear, her gloves, her fighting clothes, scrolls, her gear and what not. She wrote down a letter to Tsunade, explaining what was going on and sent it out to her, as she put on her weights (courtesy of Rock Lee) and, with protesting muscles, moved to the training grounds.

The first step to being calm is to spilling out your anger.

…

Itachi and Kisame found the kunoichi laying in the middle of the training grounds at 7 am. She was asleep, covered in dirt and sweat. The place was a mess, - cracked ground, broken trees, obliterated dummies and all sorts of damage. The girl was in the same attire he had seen her in the pub, only now these clothes were wrecked.

"Somebody had a bad night, eh?" Kisame barked at her, startling her. She woke up with a jolt and in a blink of an eye had taken the pose of a scared wild cat, unaware of her surroundings, feeling endangered. Her eyes shot to Hoshigaki and then slowly drifted to Itachi, narrowing at his smirk.

Itachi faltered. This was not the annoyed kind of narrowing of eyes. This was fear and malice. The kunoichi evidently had finally caught up with her morality.

_So be it, then_, he thought. He was no babysitter – it's better if she were to realize his danger before he had lulled her in that false sense of security she so easily accepted. This time his smirk was a threat – a cog in his head had snapped and Itachi Uchiha felt slightly _offended _by his rejected kindness. He was not known for it.

"9 am, 100 feet from the gates of Konoha, on the path. Only I and Kisame shall be with you. You will be blindfolded and carried. Objections?" he purred in her direction and he sensed the way she shivered - maybe from fear, maybe from anger.

"No." her voice was rough and her throat hoarsely spit out the word. She didn't break eye contact and only faltered in her pose when the two Akatsuki disappeared with a nod.

…

_"__How do you want me?" she asked, but it came out more like a moan. _

_"__Dead." He said, sugar dripping from his mouth. He kissed her pulse, slid his tongue on her neck up and down. A hand on the back of her head, another between her legs. _

_She breathed out excitedly, as his finger hit that one particular spot – the one that instantly killed her. His hand traced a few more seconds, feeling her neck grow stiff and kissed her eyes, dark malice on his lips. _

…

Sakura woke up horrified, disorientated. A hand was in her hair, stroking it. The dream stayed with her, the feeling of being so cold and so hot and _so scared_. The blindfold was still on her eyes.

At 8:50 am she had left the gates, giving Tsunade and Naruto an affectionate hug.

At 9 am she had been on said place for over 5 minutes. Itachi had arrived first, a hand reached out to her, awaiting. She had given him her packing bag and he had thrown it back, only to be caught by Kisame. Then he had stepped towards Sakura and before she knew it she was staring into red eyes, fading into a blood red world. Then black. Then passion. Then death.

The hand was still stroking her hair. It was tender and with long, slender fingers.

"Dearie, are you alright? You seemed like you were having a nightmare." A female voice asked gently, whilst removing her blindfold. "Itachi overdid it again, even though I told him to play nice." She tsk-ed at the hot tears, still pouring from Sakura's eyes and wiped them with her sleeve.

Sakura was lying in a bed, covered in a very warm blanket and the woman talking to her was leaning over, from where she sat on the side of the bed. Sakura marveled at her – she had gorgeous honey eyes and ocean blue hair. It was as short as Sakura's, but less all over the place. She had a white flower in front of her bun (_A bun as well as her hair put down? What a peculiar hairstyle._) She was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt with a baby blue floral pattern on it and a white skirt below it.

Sakura looked up again, meeting the woman's gaze and this time noticed the little piercing below her lower lip. _Quite punk_, she thought.

"Sakura, dear? Are you alright?" asked the woman, this time a bit more worriedly. Sakura blinked at her, realization hitting her, buried her face against the pillow and groaned.

**_Konan, a kunoichi from Amegakure and a member of Akatsuki. _**

**_Distinct characteristics: Blue hair, honey orange eyes. Has a piercing on her lower lip. _**

**_Birthdate: February 20. _**

**_Blood type: O. _**

**_Chakra Nature: Wind Release, Earth Release, Water Release, Yang Release. _**

**_Classification: S-rank._**

_'__Any other S-rank criminals you wish to oogle on?'_ Spat Inner, sarcastically grimacing.

"I am splendid, thank you for your concern." She growled out from the pillow, flinching when the same gentle hand grabbed her shoulder, carefully pushing it so Sakura could face the kunoichi.

"I am sorry, I have not introduced myself," the woman gave Sakura a warm smile. "My name is Konan. I, alongside Pein-sama, am head of this organization. As we have stated, we are in dire need of your medical assistance, which is why we shall ignore our goals in order to save our lives. This is, as you may imagine, extremely hard for us to admit, let alone act on. Although you have your reasons to despise each and every one of us, dear, do remember that we are still just as human as you are. We kill for our purposes, so do you. It does not matter if your kill is justified in some way – murder is murder. So do not think us lower than yourself, because you will only close doors which may have held something beneficial to you. I will help you with whatever I can and when you have rested and regained your composure we will show you to our medical lab and explain to you the specifics. If you lack anything – for your own comfort of concerning the medicals supplies – feel free to tell me and I shall do my best to provide you with what you need. I have instructed the boys to behave, although I would rather personally introducing you to them and vice versa. I will also have a chat with Itachi – one does not usually suffer from nightmares after his induced sleep _unless he_ makes it so. Tobi should be here with a tray of food in a few minutes – I made curry and chicken. I hope you like it."

Sakura stared as Konan got up and smiled awkwardly when the woman urged her to with her own bright smile. She caught on to her skirt before she could walk over and mulled over her words as Konan stared at her curiously.

"I will try to not bear any prejudice, but please understand you have not just killed people. You've killed people I know, people I love. I cannot overlook that."

Konan suddenly grabbed her hand and sadly squeezed it. "So have you, but I can, because I see your point of view. I can forgive them, Sakura, - your deeds in particular. Some can't. Konoha's, though – none of us can. Such corruption does not have the morality to be forgiven."

Before Sakura could ask what she meant, the woman let go of her hand suddenly and quickly left, leaving the door open. A second later a man with an orange spiral mask entered, a tray of food in his hands.

His loud, childish voice caught her completely off-guard as he cheerfully screeched "Ohayooooou, Sakura-chan!"


	6. Chapter 6

Tobi reminded Sakura of Naruto. He stayed the entire time she ate and told her all sorts of funny stories, concerning his teammates, and she laughed cheerfully. He was extremely childish, but very cute, she concluded. After she had finished he took the tray and told her her bag was in the wardrobe and that the bathroom was in the room opposite of hers. He then left, giving her an affection pat on the knee, whilst whistling happily.

Sakura looked around the room. It had a double window with green curtains and in front of it was a cute little wooden coffee table. On its left was the bed Sakura was in and on its right – the wardrobe. Next to it there was a rocking chair with a pillow on it and the walls were a warm, light pink.

_Too much associated with me._ Sakura thought, suspiciously. _Also, a bit too fancy for a criminal hide-out._

She then got out of the bed, her bare feet meeting the stone cold ground. She cracked open the door and looked around cautiously – a series of identical tunnels branched out on both sides of the corridor. It contrasted greatly with her cozy little room – everything was grey and cracked. She quickly hopped over to the bathroom door and entered, a change of clothes in hand. She wanted a shower – apparently Itachi had made it obvious that he suddenly does not like her, as he had held her the particular way that she would get dirtiest from the dust and what-not.

…

The meeting was dreadful. First, Konan was way too cheerful. Second, Deidara had tried to kill her, cried in her lap and congratulated her on being able to kill Sasori – _simultaneously._ Third, Hidan turned out to be a religious sadistically masochistic freak, who seemed to really like pissing off Konan – with every vulgar word he spat in Sakura's direction (even though she had a feeling that was his friendly sort of talk) Konan would sent a cloud of papers at him, cutting him deep.

Kisame had offered a friendly arm wrestling match, which he embarrassingly lost because he did not expect the girl to have the monstrous chakra control she had. He seemed so devastated by hiss loss that Sakura had decided to apologize and that had made the huge shark-like man actually _tear up_ and then sulk in front of the TV.

She had then met Zetsu. He was… a weird plant man, whose white half spoke formally and with respect and his black half was kind of a dick. Sakura was strangely creeped out by him and his white half had assured her that he meant no harm, while the black half had murmured a low "I don't bite… unless asked to." Sakura decided that being hit on by a black half of a plant man definitely topped her top 10 weird romantical encounters.

Then there was Kakuzu, who quickly assessed Sakura and told her she was a fine woman. Before she could even feel flattered (or, again, creeped out) he had elaborated – _"If I were to sell you I would definitely get a price far beyond the usual."_

Sakura had then hit him so hard she had dislocated his jaw and knocked him out. She probably would have been attacked by the other members if it weren't for her hilariously blushing face and pout. Konan had patted her warmly, whilst giggling, but still resumed to tell her to be a bit gentler in her outbursts – she was here to heal them, not damage them even further.

Sakura was baffled by how human these people appeared to be. (Or maybe they really were?) They were weird in their own ways, but who wasn't? Although here, in this confined space, they showed some sort of resemblance to humanity, Sakura knew these people not only killed – they enjoyed doing it, too. They laughed at bloodshed, they smirked at pain.

Those thoughts quickly disappeared when Konan tugged at Sakura's shirt and asked her pleasantly if she had liked the food. Sakura nodded politely and added a "Thank you." for good measure.

Sakura was told she had woken up around 2 pm and currently it was 4:15 pm. Konan urged her to sit on the sofa with her (next to the still devastated Kisame) and offered to paint her nails. Sakura watched the woman as she did so- obviously she had missed the company of her own sex, as these men probably wouldn't be too excited if she drew little white flowers over their black nail polish, as Konan was currently doing. Sakura relaxed into her touch and after a while asked Konan if she can make sakura petals on the thumbs.

Konan's devilish grin told Sakura that the woman was beyond happy that Sakura was taking an interest. They talked a lot about it and after the blue haired woman had told Sakura she's actually really good at nail art, Sakura had decided to play nice and offered Konan to make a different flower design for each of her nails.

"Really? May I?" Konan asked, a happy shine in her eyes.

"Of course. I really like floral designs, so I wouldn't mind. And it's not like I have anything better to do right now." Sakura smiled and patted Konan's hand.

Then Konan had cleaned off the black nail polish she had given her at first and applied a soft green, so that it would go with all the different flowers she wanted to draw. Sakura just watched curiously, impressed by how precise the woman's hand movements were and how quickly she decided which flowers to include.

…

All of the boys watched in awe. Konan, the usually stoic and robotic female of their organization, was being so _girly_. Kakuzu had explained in a low murmur that "_women get all gooey and ugh when in each other's company_" which had earned him a patronizing look from Deidara and Itachi and a very interested "_oooh!_" from Tobi. Kisame had even stopped his sulking (although Hidan reminded him every 5 minutes of his loss) and had joined the band of criminals to marvel at how the two girls, who otherwise would be dead set on killing each other, were painting their nails, telling jokes and smiling charmingly.

Hidan, of course, wanted to "accidently" bump Konan and ruin her work, but was quickly stopped by Deidara, who liked Konan not giving off a constant killing aura.

Itachi mainly gazed at the Konoha kunoichi, assessing her stupidity. In an enemy base, she was playing house with one of the main figures of the organization. Did this girl have no brain? _Or maybe_, he thought after a bit, _she's got a bit too much of a brain. It is, after all, in her interest to be as close as possible to the upper ranks. She couldn't possibly get through to Pein, so Konan is the next logical step._

He confirmed his theory when he noticed how the pink haired girl would, occasionally, snap out of her friendly frenzy and glare slightly at the woman before her. Then, as if conscience had hit her, her glare would turn soft and she would yet again laugh at whatever Konan had said or answer her, whilst smiling. It wasn't something that noticeable, but Itachi had a way of reading people and the young kunoichi was far too emotional for her profession.

Sakura looked astray and her gaze met with Itachi's. Her eyes widened slightly, which soon turned into a glare and then turned her head back to look at Konan, making her hair fall over the side of her face, so he couldn't see it. Itachi curiously wondered why. Did she somehow think he wouldn't be here? Or maybe she hadn't noticed him with all of the commotion that had went on earlier? And why would she react in such a matter?

_Maybe she's mad at me for some reason_, he concluded. _Who knows what goes on in that pink head of hers. _

He continued to watch her, relentlessly challenging her to a staring contest every time she nervously looked at him, only to be turned down by an angry glare, further deepening his confusion. At some point he felt as if he was being watched and looked away from her, only to find that his other teammates had turned their stares to him, bewildered at his interest.

He crossed his arms, annoyed. "What is it?" he asked.

"Um, noth—"

"Why are you staring at the pink haired bitch?" Hidan cut off Deidara, bluntly stating their question.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. Until recently they were all doing the same, but it was weird if _he_ did it? "Were you not just doing the same?" he calmly countered.

"Yes, but it's weird when you do it, seriously. Weren't you supposed to be fucking inhuman? Also you were awfully chatty with her back in fucking Konoha." Hidan pushed, earning a questioned look from the other criminals.

"Hn. I was merely trying to simulate a friendlier atmosphere. She's far too emotional for a kunoichi, so in order to earn her trust and to make things run smoothly, it'd be wiser to appeal to her humanity, rather than interests." Itachi moved his eyes away from Hidan, closing off the discussion.

He almost rolled his eyes in annoyance when Hidan did not get the hint.

"Just admit it, man. You wanna get in 'er pants. Finally grew a pair, eh?" he said, patting Itachi's back. The Uchiha choose to simply warn the damn Jashin-obsessed brat with his Mangekyō sharingan, instead of actually harming him, as that would have distracted the two women from their activities. He still wanted to observe the Haruno girl. Hidan just rolled his eyes but went quiet, glaring at the ceiling.

…

Sakura thought Konan was an extremely interesting person and an admirable kunoichi, from what she had told her, yet she barely kept her interest as she felt Itachi's stare. She would turn to him, on purpose, to catch him staring in hopes of making him look away, but he'd meet her eyes head on and wouldn't even flinch. It drove her mad. Konan asked her something and Sakura turned her gaze back to the blue haired woman, only to be greeted by a grin.

"Do you like it?" she repeated her question enthusiastically.

Sakura looked down and inspected her nails. They weren't that long, but it seemed Konan could work with little space, as well. Every finger had a beautiful flowery design, which softly enhanced her feminine looks. "They're gorgeous." Sakura breathed, a smile breaking across her face. Then Konan made a few hand seals and a soft white glow came from her fingers, only to disappear seconds later.

"That's so that it stays in place, even if you were to scrub it off with rusted metal. Later I'll show you how to break it, when I'm removing my own nail polish, okay?" Sakura nodded and decided that Konan must really be into nail art if she had learned (or maybe even made?) such an, otherwise, useless jutsu.

"Okay, then!" the woman beamed, startling Sakura and a few of the boys. She turned to their little gossip group(as she had called them earlier) and said:

"There will be a meeting at Pein's office at 8 pm, so you have 3 hours to do nothing, o_r to reflect on your actions_." she stared at Itachi angrily, "I will show Sakura to her lab and after the meeting we will all go down to it, so that she can make a routine check on all of you. You can later, if you wish, in private tell her any and all health issues you need her assistance on. If you feel her untrustworthy, we shall clear that up for you during the meeting. Questions?"

"Can Tobi show Sakura around the base?" Tobi questioned, his voice gleeful, earning himself a suspicious glance from Itachi. _What is he planning?,_ the Uchiha thought to himself.

"I believe it would be more appropriate if I were to do it, in order to… _redeem_ myself for my earlier rudeness." Itachi added, before Konan could accept. She looked at him thoughtfully and then smiled sweetly.

"Of course. Sakura, you don't mind, do you?" Konan faced Sakura, a warm smile on her face.

"Ah, um… n-no, of course not." The kunoichi answered, a nervous shiver going down her spine. She looked at the older Uchiha, amusement flooding his eyes. Her own turned sore and she looked away, a blush creeping over her cheeks.

"It's settled, then. Come." Itachi stood up from the table and motioned for the girl to follow suit. She shakily stood, a shy, yet angry expression on her face.

He smiled.

**A/N: I skipped posting last week since my inspiration was quite dead. Reviews fuel my imagination and I'd love any critiques or notes you may have! **


	7. Chapter 7

Sakura's breath hitched. That was far from a smile. More like a sign – '_I've got you now._' or something like that. She looked back at Konan, hoping the woman would have noticed and would make her mind up, returning to the original plan of _her_ taking her around and showing her the lab.

No such luck. The blue haired kunoichi smiled brightly at her and urged her to follow Itachi.

Sakura dragged her feet towards the Uchiha. He was patiently waiting for her beside the entrance to the corridor, his eyes intent on her. She was looking past him, careful not to meet his gaze, a heavy blush on her cheeks. As she came to a stop next to him, he called out to Konan, saying they wouldn't be long. He then entered the corridor and Sakura followed suit.

…

10 minutes later and they were still walking past these colorless corridors, which reminded Sakura more and more of a maze. Just as she was about to ask how long they would be walking, strong hands gripped her thighs and she felt her back against the cold stone walls. The hands put her legs on his hips and his torso pressed into her, until she felt Itachi's breath on her cheek.

"Why have you been avoiding my gaze?" he asked, his voice much colder than his body, _which was fucking pressed into her, holy shit._

"I-uh… what?" Sakura asked, still unable to grasp the reality of the situation. She was turning a million shades of red and her eyes were unfocused, staring into the opposite wall.

"You're angry with me. You've been avoiding my gaze. At the training grounds back in Konoha you glared venomously at me. Here, in the common room, you'd glare at me, as well. I want to know why." He asked calmly, resting his cheek on hers, so he was completely taking over her hearing.

_What the hell is he doing?!_ Inner drooled, although angrily. _He can't act all sexual and then talk in such a cold matter! _

Sakura took a shaky breath to collect herself.

"Y-you.. you're the enemy, s-so it's completely natural for.. for, um, me to hate you a-and so, um… put me down." Sakura stuttered, although not from fear. The Akatsuki's breath tickled that one particular sensitive spot beneath her ear, which sent waves of shock through her body, and she couldn't turn her head, for her pride forbid her from stepping down.

"No." he quickly disregarded her command and went to talk, with his lips over her pulse. "So you hate me, then?" he went silent for a bit, but bit her neck painlessly when she opened her mouth to retort. She quickly closed it and waited for whatever more he wanted to say.

"Is it because of Sasuke that you hate me?" he finally asked.

Sakura's eyes widened and her pulse quickened even more. She knew Itachi felt it. No point in lying, then.

"Yes. If you had not done all that… if you had not massacred the clan, then Sasuke wouldn't have left us. He wouldn't be the monster he has become." Sakura answered quietly, closing her eyes. _I do not… will not cry. _

"Is that so? Hmm." He went silent for a while, again, kissing her pulse. Although she did not know it, he was doing it in order to distract her – he had heard the broken note in her voice_. I'm far too kind to this girl_, he mentally sighed. "Then, if I am the reason Sasuke has become a monster… is there not a reason _I've _become a monster?" he asked, although regretted it quickly after.

_Shit_, he cursed, having softened up to the girl so.

He felt a frail little hand creep up around his throat. She pushed back a little, making her intentions clear. He lifted his head and glared at her soft expression. Confusion and suspicion clouded her eyes.

"What do you mean?" she asked and her voice had turned to melted chocolate. She felt empathy, even though she didn't even know what he meant. Maybe his hard expression showed more of his heart, than he had estimated. _So foolish_, he thought as he trailed the edge of her lips with his eyes, _to try and comfort the enemy, when he has you right where he wants you and his intentions are far from innocent._

He looked back to her eyes. "I'm saying, that there is more than meets the eye. If you're interested, kunoichi, do your own research."

"I answered your question, did I not? Answer mine." She fiercely answered, glaring slightly.

"Even if I told you, your love of Konoha would absolutely reject the idea." He answered, positioning her slightly, so that her core was exactly over his manhood. He smirked slightly when she seemed oblivious to the action.

"Well, try me!" her voice had taken an annoyed note.

"Oh, I intend to." He said, as he ground his hips into her, hard. He took in the sight of her shocked expression, which soon turned to one of realization. Her pupils dilated and her mouth parted in a shaky moan, after which she quickly covered her mouth and looked up to him, absolutely appalled.

He quickly put her down, while she was still processing what he had done. Knocking on the door next to them he told her this was the lab and that he'd be back in an hour to fetch her. He then quickly left, pleased with himself that it'd take her some time to collect herself. One, it added some to his pride and second- it spared him a punch to the face (which he would, of course, dodge, but it would ruin the mood).

…

Sakura was absolutely mad and, to her greatest shame, turned on. She had quickly entered the lab room after Itachi left. She wasn't neither stupid, nor oblivious. This was beyond teasing somebody. This was _interest_.

_Itachi Uchiha was interested in her. _She took a calming breath and ran a hand through her hair.

She then felt something. She froze as she realized what it was.

His chakra signal. He hadn't left a trail as they came, but he had left one now.

He was providing her with a choice.

Sakura's lips went into a straight line as she fought with herself. She opened the door, justifying her actions with her desire to get her question properly answered. Her blush indicated she was completely aware that she was bulshitting herself. Moreover, her Inner wouldn't shut up about it.

_'__You're literally begging for sex and, I admit, I'm okay with it.'_ She mused and Sakura snarled at her._ I am not! I am merely… accepting the invitation. _

_'__You know what? I'll accept that explanation, because it feels great to think that a sex god would possibly desire us. Did you have to have such a small chest and huge forehead, huh? You're absolutely ruining all our chances!'_

_Oh, excuse me! Why don't you scold our genes, while you're at it? They might get a ping to the conscience and rearrange themselves! _Sakura fumed at her Inner and quickly shut her out. She was nearing the end of the trail. She walked a bit more, feeling it getting more and more potent, until she found herself in front of an all black door. It was slightly open and she gulped nervously.

_What am I thinking?! He's the enemy! So what if he's hot and so what if he isn't that dislikable?! _She shook her head and began retracing her steps.

After the first the door opened and she looked back, startled.

Itachi stared at her, shirtless. His hair was down and his eyes were a bit clouded, as well as sharp as a knife.

She gulped.

"You came this far. Are you going to back down at this little of an obstacle? Or are you not sure of what you want?" he asked in a low murmur.

"I-.. I simply want my question answered." Sakura lied.

He stared at her and then came up to her. He grabbed her chin and lowered his face to hers. She made no move. He stopped a few millimeters away from her mouth. "Be honest with yourself and I'll be honest with you. How does that sound?"

She stared at him. He was making it sound like a deal. He was giving her a way to justify her actions. He saw her internal struggle.

It was just to let off some steam, right? Why not? And she'd get information in return for it.

She leaned in and her lips grazed his shyly. His mouth enveloped hers, suddenly, and she gasped. He took the opportunity to mingle his tongue with hers. He grabbed her, again pinning her against himself, and walked into his room. He closed the door with his foot and reveled in the moans he'd cause her as he either ground her in him or he trailed his fingers over her thighs. He gently laid her down on his bed and crawled over her. He broke their kiss to look at her – her lips were slightly puffed, her eyes were lidded with lust and her breathing was hitched. He smirked.

"Do you find this to your liking, then?" he asked.

Her eyebrows creased. "Do I find what to my liking?" she asked back, her voice much less controlled than his.

"This situation." He murmured, as he dipped his head, so as to trail kisses over her throat. "You're at the mercy of a person, whom you suppose has murdered his clan in cold blood. Does it make you shiver, the way these hands, meant for killing, are caressing you so gently?" he whispered into her skin, feeling her goosebumps.

Sakura filed away the part, where he implied she just thinks he murdered his clan. "It makes me absolutely turned on." Instead, she answered boldly, earning a growl of approval. "It makes me wonder how much more you can make me feel, other than that initial fear."

Itachi traced her collarbone with his teeth. He had not meant to actually to do this. He had left the trail to taunt her. But then, when he remembered the feel of her body beneath his, the way she reacted oh-so-sweetly, he couldn't help himself but give her a reason to stay. Because she needed one. That annoyed him slightly, but he ignored the emotion as he felt impatient hands dig into his back. She was arched into him, giving him space to do his magic. And so he did.

**A/N: I have a question.**  
><strong>Should I actually write the lemony part, or should I leave it to your imagination? I could write more, but I'm unsure of whether or not you guys would like a lemon or simply vague smut? Don't be shy - tell me!<strong>


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